Category Archives: Organizational Practice

The concept of experiential learning is becoming ever more popular. More and more organizations abandon traditional classroom programs when developing their employees, and invest in learning through real-life experiences. The assumption is that when employees actually experience a situation, and live through a real-life problem, the learning outcomes are greater.

The consequence is, however, that many organizations now throw their employees into complex and challenging situations they often cannot handle, because the particular experiential situation is too far removed from the prior experiences of the employees. This means that the trainees don’t have the tools for being able to begin to process the experiential learning experience. Under these circumstances, learning does not occur, because learning takes place when new entities of knowledge can be integrated into existing knowledge structures. When being overwhelmed, such a structured process becomes interrupted, trainees become frustrated, and learning outcomes get impaired.

This does not mean that experiential learning interventions should be discontinued. After all, experiential learning truly promises to bring about better learning outcomes. However, current research suggests that if trainees have the opportunity to first observe others perform in the experiential learning situation, and thereby think through their prospective experiential learning task before actually engaging in the experience, they do much better when handling the experience. This has been shown to lead to better and deeper learning outcomes.

The implication therefore is: Continue to invest in experiential learning. It is indeed a promising approach. Make sure, however, that the trainees have the opportunity to observe role models before engaging with the experiential learning situation. Therefore, at the beginning of experiential learning, there needs to be a structured approach that eases the trainees into the situation. The easing-in happens through offering opportunities to observe role models that actually engage in the prospective experience. The use of prior classroom simulations of the prospective experience might hereby be helpful . Also, starting to go into the experience with the guidance of a subject matter expert enables observation/reflection. Finally, in case a particular experiential learning experience has been conducted before, trainees who already went through the experience can be used for offering insights into how to best approach the prospective learning situation.

With many of us having ever more international experiences, wouldn’t it be nice if we used it for intercultural learning? After all, we all call out for interculturally sensitive and global leaders, right? Recent research indicates how we can best use an international experience to become such leaders.

Well, first it is about the duration of the experience. The message is clear: The longer the international experience, the deeper the potential for intercultural learning. So is there nothing that can be done except staying abroad longer? There is, as the way you approach your international experience, and the way you strive to learn from the experience influences your degree of intercultural learning.

A divergent learning style has been identified as best for developing intercultural intelligence. People with such a learning style crave for real-life experiences: they like to do things, to carry out plans and tasks, to interact with people from different cultures. However, they also tend to be imaginative and emotional. They can view a situation from many perspectives, check assumptions and adjust mental maps, are sensitive to meaning and values, and connect their feelings closely to their immediate international experience.

This learning style is set apart from three other learning styles, which have not been found effective for the purpose of using an international experience for developing intercultural intelligence. The accomodative learning style also cherishes real-life experience, but lacks reflection. The focus here is more on intuitive trial-and-error behavior, and on relying on other people for information, rather than on an analytical or reflective review of the international experience. Both the assimilative and convergent learning styles prioritze abstract conceptualization instead of real life-experience, thereby often preventing deep direct contact with cultural knowledge. Whereas individuals with assimilative learning styles do not seem to possess high motivation to interact with people of other cultures at all, individuals with convergent learning styles tend to focus on technical tasks and problems rather than social and interpersonal issues when interacting with people from other cultures.

The challenge now is to bring divergent styles to the forefront. First, it is important to understand one’s own preference for a particular learning style. With this awareness, an assessment can be made about the degree to which one already applies learning techniques conducive for intercultural learning. If these techniques are not sufficiently used, an effort can be made to acquire these techniques, through deliberate and planned behavior in the mode of a divergent learning style, or through modeling the behavior of individuals with this particular learning style. Also, resources can be recruited that help acquire the learning techniques needed, through training programs as well as coaching and mentoring processes.

So let’s all use the international experiences we have for developing intercultural learning. Wouldn’t it be a waste of effort and time otherwise?